WETZLAR.- The Ernst Leitz Museum opened the first major retrospective ever devoted to Dr. Paul Wolff (1887–1951) and Alfred Tritschler. The museum is being developed into a central cultural institution of national and international importance where the public can discover the many different facets of photography. The focus is on researching and communicating to the public the past, present, and future of modern photography. The initiator and main sponsor of the Ernst Leitz Museum is Leica Camera AG Wetzlar.
With this first major retrospective devoted to Dr. Paul Wolff (1887–1951) and Alfred Tritschler (1905–1970), the public now has a chance to rediscover two of the best-known German photographers circa 1930. Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler are known today in photography circles mainly as pioneers in the use of the Leica camera. Outstanding technicians, they introduced a livelier style to illustrative photography and reportage made possible by the new small format. At the same time, their work, estimated at some 700,000 photos, provides a window onto several chapters of German history: from the fall of the empire to the failed Weimar Republic, from National Socialism to the Second World War,the final phase of which saw the destruction of major parts of the Wolff archives. In formal and aesthetic terms, these works range between conventional styles and the New Objectivity, between the homespun Heimatstil and the innovative New Vision. It would be hard to find a subject matter that Wolff and Tritschler did not devote their attention to at some point. Active from the mid-1920s onwards, the photographers recorded practically all the important events of their day - motorway construction, the airship craze, tourism, cruises, modern architecture, the 1936 Olympic Games. And yet the work of Wolff and Tritschler is marked by a number of contradictions. This is exactly what makes it such a fascinating subject for an exhibition devoted to cultural history.
Wolff and Tritschler saw themselves as reliable service providers whose Frankfurt-based company handled all tasks associated with modern photography – photographic illustrations and reporting as well as architectural, fashion, advertising, industrial, and propaganda photography. It was Paul Wolff who devoted himself around 1923 to advocating for the preservation of Frankfurt’s Old Town through his compelling photographs, leaving a lasting mark on our impression of what medieval Frankfurt was like. At the same time, Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler turned out iconic images of the New Frankfurt with the zigzag houses of its Bruchfeldstrasse housing estate, the central market hall, and the headquarters of I.G. Farben, images that are still printed frequently today. Wolff and Tritschler were likewise pioneers in the new field of colour photography, and in the corporate image publication. As a well-organized player on the modern media landscape, the company put its stock in the printed image: there was nary an illustrated magazine printed in German around 1930 that did not feature photos by Wolff and Tritschler. Their bibliography comes to more than 300 titles, with translations into English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and Japanese. In the years around 1930, Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler were a veritable international phenomenon. A historical-critical examination of their work was more than overdue.
The extensive exhibition catalogue features contributions by Sabine Hock, Randy Kaufman, Hans-Michael Koetzle, Kristina Lemke, Günter Osterloh, Tobias Picard, Gerald Piffl, Shun Uchibayashi, and Thomas Wiegand.
